Donnelly, Brown bill to fund understaffed courts voted down

Sacramento >> An attempt to pump more money into underfunded courthouses has died in committee.

Assembly Bill 1313, authored by Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Hesperia, would have paid for up to 12 additional courtroom staff positions in the counties with the greatest disparity between current staffing levels and those recommended by the Judicial Council, the California court system’s policy-making body.

“I can think of nothing more pressing than to ensure all Californians have access to constitutionally guaranteed justice,” Donnelly said. “It is unfortunate that some of my colleagues don’t agree with me.”

The bill, which was sponsored by Inland Empire and Central Valley legislators from both sides of the aisle, died in committee Tuesday.

In recent years, budgetary pressures forced the closure of courts across the state. San Bernardino County saw the closure of the Big Bear, Chino and Needles courthouses, and the Barstow courthouse going from five courtrooms open five days a week to one courtroom open three days a week. One of the courtrooms in Joshua Tree was also shut down. Juvenile traffic courts in Rancho Cucamonga and San Bernardino also shut down, and the juvenile traffic courts periodically held in Barstow, Big Bear and Joshua Tree have also come to an end, according to San Bernardino County Presiding Judge Marsha Slough.

“When I took the job as presiding judge in December of ‘12, we were facing a $23 million structural deficit. We were spending our reserves to fill the gap and that’s because of four and a half, five years actually, of cuts in our budget,” she said. “Our budget hole grew deeper every time we got cut.”

Court reporters were laid off, commissioner positions were dissolved and a hard hiring freeze was instituted. Seven judgeships that were approved several years ago have never been filled.

“We should have 156 judges, and we have 86 judicial officers: We have half of what we need,” Slough said. “So that’s why I was very encouraged by the attention that Ms. Brown and Mr. Donnelly were giving (the courts).”

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AB 1313, had it been approved by the Legislature, would have been a “tremendous help,” she said.

The budget cuts have had real-world impacts for county residents beyond just lawyers and those charged with a crime, Slough said.

“If you want to change your custody order, we have to send it out to mediation first” under state law, she said. “Because of our staffing issues, people would literally have to wait four to five months for mediation before (they) could return to court. That’s a lifetime for a child.”

And for residents in more remote corners of the largest county in the lower 48 states, getting justice is more expensive and less convenient than ever.

“Some residents in San Bernardino County will have to travel two hours to get their day in court,” Donnelly said.

Even without AB 1313, there may be light at the end of the tunnel, Slough said.

“We got more ($60 million) money last year, and with all of our cuts, we have effectively closed our budget gap,” she said. “Not quite, but almost.”